Start 'em early

I really like Andrew Jefford's Monday columns in Decanter. This week, he's chosen to write about a topic close to my heart: palate.
It's a well-known fact in the science community that the palate (sense of smell and taste) ages quickly. In fact, palate acuity peakes at the age of eleven. That's why kids seem to be able to pick out the most microscopic fragment of parsley out of their meatballs, if you were wondering. Something I at my age (which is not THAT old...) barely notice. Sarah Jessica Parker claims otherwise, of course. I think that's what they call "exceptions that prove the rule", but now I'm veering off topic. It's as Jefford astutely states: "Age’s trump card is experience and memory: you can fit things into a context younger tasters don’t have, and dredge the memory bank for sensorial similitudes. But older tasters would be ill-advised to rubbish a younger palate when it uncovers surprising details". In a large Danish Study published in 2008 and reported in ScienceDaily, Bodil Allesen-Holm (MSc in Food Science and Technology) says "It is quite clear that children and young people are very good tasters, and that there are bigger variations between them than most people would expect. There is, for example, a marked difference between boys and girls, and the ability of children to recognise tastes changes with age. So one could easily develop more varied food products and snacks for children and young people. For example, it is quite clear that children do not necessarily prefer sweet things. According to the findings, healthy snacks could easily be developed for boys with slightly extreme and sour flavours."
We've had plenty of kids accompany their parents at Bloom, and in a very non-scientific way we can confirm that while they might not know it's name, they sure know what it tastes like. I just wonder when we're going to catch up with what the French and have Systembolaget employ a bunch of eleven year-olds as their new panel of tasters. Considering the selection they offer now, it sure can't hurt.

(image from google.com)